Shri Yudhisthira Maharaja said, "Oh Madhusudana, Oh killer of the Madhu demon, please be merciful to me and describe to me the EkAdasii that occurs during the light fortnight of the month of Shravana (July-August)." The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, replied, "Yes, Oh king, I shall happily narrate its glories to you, for just by hearing about this sacred EkAdasii one attains the merit of performing a horse sacrifice.

"At the dawn of DvArpara-yuga there lived a king by the name of Mahijita, who ruled the kingdom of Mahismati-puri. Because he had no son, his entire kingdom seemed utterly cheerless to him. A married man who has no son gains no happiness in this life or the next.

The Sanskrit word for 'son' is putra. Pu is the name of a particular hell, and tra means 'to deliver.' Thus the word putra means 'a person who delivers one from the hell named Pu.' Therefore every married man should produce at least one son and train him properly; then the father will be delivered from a hellish condition of life. But this injunction does not apply to the serious devotees of Lord Vishnu or Krishna, for the Lord becomes their son, father, and mother.

Furthermore, ChANakya Pandita says,

satyam mata pita jnanam
dharmo bhrata daya sakha
santih patni ksama putrah
sadete mama vandhavah  read more »